[WEB4LIB] Re: Yahoo Mail adds storage

[K. G. Schneider]

> Yes, how dare a company make money off a service it provides!  Outrageous!

I like money as much as the next person, but my issue with Gmail is twofold.
First is the issue of how Google is making money (and their behavior doesn't
make Yahoo any holier, so the comparison is a false dichotomy, rhetorically
speaking).  On the old-tyme Internet, if someone had offered me e-mail in
exchange for an agreement to scan my mail and embed my mail client with
advertisements, I would have straddled my high horse and invoked values that
to some now seem quaint. In terms of 1:1 analogies, Gmail:Hummer and
Gmail:Marlboro work for me. 

Second is the issue of Google's false piety.  If they want to promote
socially irresponsible capitalism on the 21st century digital frontier,
heaven knows I can't stop them.  But when they release an IPO document that
blathers on about their "atmosphere of creativity and challenge, which has
helped us provide unbiased, accurate and free access to information for
those who rely on us around the world," they invite scorn from anyone who
has ever tripped over a real value.

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com